Thermovoltaic properties of hornet silk.

In silk from the larval silk caps of the Oriental hornet Vespa orientalis (Hymenoptera, Vespinae), temperature-dependent changes in the electric voltage have been recorded, with rise in the voltage occurring mainly upon rise in the temperature between 10-36 degrees C. The peak voltage was measured between 32-38 degrees C and attained 240-360 mV, but with further increase in temperature, the voltage decreased, dropping to 0 mV at about 45-50 degrees C. Upon second measurement (of same silk specimen), the voltage peak usually occurred later (by 8-9 degrees C) and at higher temperature than in the first measurement. Continuous measurements during warming up to 30 degrees C followed by cooling down to 15 degrees C yielded an hysteresis between the warming "line" and the cooling "line", the former often straight and the latter usually curved. Maintaining the silk specimen at a fixed temperature for a prolonged period (hours) initially causes the voltage to rise, then remain steady, and finally drop. Boiling the silk caps in tap water for 7-10 min exerts some changes in the silk properties, mainly a decrease in voltage level. The general behavior of the silk suggests that it is a polymer endowed with the qualities of an organic semiconductor. The various properties of the larval silk are discussed in great detail.

Perovskites in the comb roof base of hornets: their possible function.

On the ceiling of the Oriental hornet comb cell, there are mineral granules of polycrystalline material known to belong to the group of perovskites. In a comb cell intended to house a worker hornet, the roof base usually carries one or several such perovskite granules containing titanium (Ti), whereas in the roof base of a cell housing a developing queen, there are usually several granules containing a high percentage of silicon (Si), aluminum (Al), calcium (Ca), and iron (Fe), but very little if any Ti. In worker comb cells, Ti usually appears as ilmenite (FeTiO3). Besides documenting the above-mentioned facts, this report discusses possible reasons for the appearance of ilmenite crystals in worker cells only and not in queen cells.

Localization versus delocalization of surface plasmons in nanosystems: can one state have both characteristics?

From a partial-differential eigenproblem, without use of dipole approximation, we show that the eigenmodes (surface plasmons) of disordered nanosystems (modeled as random planar composites) are not universally Anderson localized, but can have properties of both localized and delocalized states simultaneously. Their topology is determined by separate small-scale "hot spots" that are distributed and coherent over a length that may be comparable to the total size of the system. Coherence lengths and oscillator strengths vary by orders of magnitude from mode to mode at nearby frequencies. The existence of dark vs luminous eigenmodes is established and attributed to the effect of charge- and parity-conservation laws. Possible applications are discussed.

Permeability relation for periodic structures.

The permeability relation for periodic porous media is studied with respect to other petrophysical parameters such as formation factor, porosity, surface-to-volume ratio, and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) relaxation time. All these quantities were computed for periodic structures of simple, body-centered, and face-centered cubic arrays of touching and overlapping spheres. The formation factors were calculated by using a method which is based on a Fourier-space representation of an integral equation for the electric potential in a two-component composite. The nuclear magnetic resonance relaxation time for the case where surface-enchanced relaxation plays a dominant role is known to be V P/rho S (VP is the pore volume, S is the pore surface, is the surface relaxation strength) when rho is not too large. Previously calculated permeabilities for these structures from the literature were used for correlation studies with other petrophysical parameters. Various correlation schemes among these quantities, such as k = aTbFc, and k = aTb phi c, were investigated, where k is permeability, T is the NMR relaxation time, phi is the porosity, and F is the formation factor.

Abnormal glutathione conjugation in patients with tyrosinaemia type I.

Previous studies have suggested that tyrosinaemia type I may be associated with reduced glutathione availability due to conjugation of tyrosinaemia-associated reactive intermediates with glutathione. In the present study, the glutathione/ glutathione S-transferase system of two tyrosinaemia patients and three healthy controls were characterized by administering the racemic sedative drug bromisoval, a probe drug for assessing glutathione conjugation activity in vivo. Furthermore, concentrations of glutathione and glutathione S-transferase class alpha (GSTA) isoenzymes as well as the glutathione S-transferase class mu phenotype were assessed in the blood of six tyrosinaemia patients. The excretion of bromisoval mercapturates in healthy children was comparable to that observed in healthy adults. Tyrosinaemia patients were found to have a very high urinary recovery of bromisoval mercapturates (> or = 60% of the dose compared to about 30% for healthy, age-matched children and adults), which could be attributed mainly to a higher urinary excretion of the mercapturate derived from S-bromisoval. Healthy children and adults predominantly excrete the (R)-bromisoval mercapturate. The differences in amount excreted as well as in stereoselectivity of the urinary excretion of bromisoval mercapturates in tyrosinaemia patients are possibly related to an increased activity of specific glutathione S-transferase isoenzymes. Plasma glutathione and blood cell glutathione disulphide concentrations in tyrosinaemia patients were normal. Low blood cell glutathione concentrations were in general found only in two patients with a poor clinical condition. These results indicate that, in contrast to previous suggestions, reduced glutathione availability is not a generalized problem in (stabilized) tyrosinaemia patients.

Self-diffusion in periodic porous media: a comparison of numerical simulation and eigenvalue methods.

Random walk computer simulations are an important tool in understanding magnetic resonance measurements in porous media. In this paper we focus on the description of pulsed field gradient spin echo (PGSE) experiments that measure the probability, P(R,t), that a diffusing water molecule will travel a distance R in a time t. Because PGSE simulations are often limited by statistical considerations, we will see that valuable insight can be gained by working with simple periodic geometries and comparing simulation data to the results of exact eigenvalue expansions. In this connection, our attention will be focused on (1) the wavevector, k, and time dependent magnetization, M(k, t); and (2) the normalized probability, Ps(delta R, t), that a diffusing particle will return to within delta R of the origin after time t.

Magnetic field nonuniformities and NMR of protons diffusing in a porous medium.

Magnetic field inhomogeneity can arise either because of an externally applied field gradient or because of spatial variations in magnetic susceptibility. The latter are most important when the solid matrix includes paramagnetic substances and when the uniform applied field, and, consequently, also the Larmor precession frequency are very large. Both types of field inhomogeneity add extra phase shifts to the precessing spins. These phase shifts vary with time and position in a complex and random fashion as a result of the diffusive motion of the spins. We have studied these effects by performing detailed calculations for the case of a fluid filled porous medium with a periodic microstructure. Special attention was devoted to the question of whether the statistical distribution of the phase shifts encountered in a Hahn spin echo experiment or in a Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill (CPMG) spin-echo train can be approximated as a Gaussian. The mean square phase shift is measured in such experiments as an enhanced relaxation rate of the precessing transverse magnetization. We determine this mean square phase shift for periodic composites from the diffusion eigenstates, which were calculated using a previously developed Fourier expansion method. The enhanced relaxation rate depends on the echo spacing time tau in a way that can be correlated with important length scales of the porous microstructure. Those correlations can be extended also to disordered microstructures, like the ones that are found in natural rocks. We compare these theoretically predicted correlations with CPMG measurements performed on protons in laboratory samples of brine saturated sandstone.